Imaoka was born in Kanagawa Prefecture. Her works center around everyday lives of people in Asia, Islamic regions, and disaster areas. "Rebirth" has been her main theme recently. She has won, among others, the Higashikawa Prize (the New Photographer Prize) in 2007, and one of her recent published works is of her photography collection entitled re-birth~ Gareki no Tonari no Onnatachi (Women Next to the Ruins) (Mado Publishing, 2003). Imaoka has held numerous exhibitions.

Matsuri, or local festivals, are a way for people's heartfelt hopes to travel from past to future, to transcend time and to be communicated to their children. Those watching a matsuri can travel through time into the past, while observing the undeniable present reality at the same time. I am drawn to this sense of moving back and forth through time. If I do not feel some kind of a spirit in "people's heartfelt hopes," I somehow lose interest, so I must keep move along to the next place in order to maintain an edge to my own feelings.

In such a way, I am both imprisoned by time and place and at the same time free of them. Because "Eternity at a Moment" is a contradiction to begin with, I seek to express myself in such a gap.

My approach of pursuing light while keeping an awareness of "rebirth" has always remained consistent and unchanged, and here, I wanted to emphasize that radiance through my work.

Feedback on having used 18-270mm (Model B008)

Photographing festivals, where situations change every second, I made a conscious effort to put to good use the advantages of being able to quickly change the angle of view. Ideas constantly come up, and most of them quickly fade away. At times, though, it may well be important to try to make use of the many ideas that do come up.